Mistakes, Accidents and Surprises
by onceuponastories
Summary: Dr. Abigail Bartlet is a force to be reckoned with. Her husband knows it, her daughters know it, the White House staff knows it, even the American public knows it! So when mistakes are made and accidents happen, surprises are inevitable...
1. Chapter 1 - Mistakes

**Hey Lovelies! So I recently started rewatching The West Wing, and I thought about how things could have gone way differently. In this version of the tale the public knew that the President was sick, and yet Abbey still gets pissed when he decides to run for reelection. What would have happened if they had gone about things a little differently up in Manchester...? This picks up then and takes the story of what happened in the President's personal life a completely different direction. P.S. I don't own the West Wing, or any of the characters in this story. :(**

Chapter 1 – Mistakes

Go to hell! Of all the things she could have said, all of the ways she could have reacted she had told him to go to hell. Abbey was sitting on the floor of the bathroom in their suite, the cool tile pressed to the back of her legs as she cried. She shouldn't have reacted like that; she had always known that him running again was always a real possibility, even though he had made her that promise. She wiped her eyes and washed her face, getting ready for bed. When she reentered their bedroom he was still sitting on the bed where she left him, reading whatever memo he had been holding while she had been screaming.

They spent the entirety of the next month skirting around each other. Not openly hostile, but not their usual selves either. The staff had noticed, and they were concerned. The First Lady wasn't herself, she wasn't near as assertive as normal, and she was being lenient on issues she normally wouldn't budge on. The President was even worse. No one on the staff had realized just how much the couple depended on each other for their basic day-to-day functioning.

They had been together for over thirty years; the President had been twenty years old when he dropped out of seminary school to pursue the nineteen year old Abigail Barrington. Now in their early fifties, three daughters, numerous degrees and prizes each, and multiple campaigns, elections and public offices they were here. President and First Lady Bartlet, and they weren't speaking to each other. They were sharing a bed each night with a space between them that seemed larger than the Grand Canyon.

They left for the farm in Manchester in early July. C.J. was worried about the appearances of the First Couple as they travelled north. The President was photographed boarding and disembarking Air Force One entirely alone. Abbey had taken a car, choosing to stop in New York to see Lizzie and her family on the way up. C.J. pulled up in the driveway of the farm only to see Dr. Bartlet walking across the yard in jeans and a button down, carrying a basket of apples. "Good morning Ma'am."

"Good morning C.J.! Would you like some cider? We grow the apples just down the hill." She smiled and headed back for the house, the President's press secretary trailing behind her.

"That would be fine ma'am." She paused as they reached the porch. "Ma'am there are some photographers here, I was thinking maybe some casual pictures of you and the President together would be a good idea. There have been some sources saying that since,"

"Since my husband and I haven't been seen together in public for a few weeks there must be something wrong in our marriage! What sources C.J.?"

"I'm sorry ma'am?"

"The sources C.J. I want names!" C.J. didn't know what to say, she was glad to see the First Lady's fire was back, but she didn't know exactly what she was going to do.

"Ma'am they are unnamed,"

"Unnamed sources! C.J. I don't give a damn about unnamed sources! You won't come to me with unnamed sources again, am I clear?" She hadn't raised her voice, but the First Lady's tone offered no room for argument.

"Yes ma'am."

The First Lady turned and swept through the front door, letting the screen slam shut behind her. "Oh and C.J.?" Her voice carried from inside the house. "You're not getting any cider."

C.J. gave Abbey a minute and then followed her into the house; Leo grabbed her arm on the way by. "How did it go with the First Lady?"

"Well I'm not getting any cider."

"Eh," Leo shrugged, "It could be worse."

"How?"

"She could have banned the President from cider." C.J. nodded and moved on through the house, looking for the First Lady, she still wanted to convince her to introduce the President at his speech tomorrow night.

* * *

Abbey was stepping down off of the stage when she saw Jed's limousine pull up behind. He still didn't know that she was going to introduce him, and she grinned slightly to herself as he and Leo approached. With a wave of her hand she dismissed her own staff, and Leo being Leo knew to give them a little space. All anyone did was try and give the two of them space these days.

Abbey knew that it was her fault, that she had overreacted with Jed, and that she had been snippy with C.J. but she didn't care. He had made her a promise, and then she had had to learn that he broke it on national television. Yes he was sick, everyone knew that, and everyone but Abbey seemed to know that he was going to run for reelection anyway.

By the time she had gotten up here yesterday she knew that she was in the wrong, she knew that she was going to have to be the one to suck it up and apologize, but she was Abigail Bartlet and Abigail Bartlet didn't apologize. She smiled when he met her on the steps. "Jed."

"I didn't know you were going to be here?"

She grinned as she stepped down the steps past him. "I'm introducing you."

"What?"

"It was C.J.'s idea." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "It'll look good, and it's a step, a first step. For us, for me to, well, anyway…" She trailed off. "I'll see you at home."

She started to step away from him, but he caught her elbow, "Will you wait up for me?" She could see the look of hope in his eyes and she knew that she had found her way back in.

"Count on it."

* * *

She had found that crack, the way that she was going to get back into Jed's good graces, a way to apologize for all of the problems that she had caused him over the last month. It wasn't that she didn't feel bad, that she wasn't sorry for the extra stress that she had caused him, she was. It was just that she was proud and stubborn, and she didn't like to be in the wrong.

She had promised to wait for him, told him to count on it, and she was sure that she was going to make it worth it. She knew that he would be out there on the podium rehearsing for an hour or so and she used her time wisely.

By the time she heard him coming up the stairs everything was where she wanted it, even herself. She had showered and only partially blow-dried her hair, knowing full well how much he liked her having wet hair. She had dressed in red, which she knew he loved, and she had lit candles.

"Abbey?" He started to speak as he entered the room, but stopped mid-step when he took in the scene before him. "Abbey, what's going on in here?" He looked around for her and when he found her sitting on her knees in the middle of their king sized bed he couldn't help but smile. "Abbey?"

"This is my apology Jed. For everything over the last month or so." She crawled across the bed towards him and then padded her way across the hard wood with her bare feet to look up into his eyes from right in front of him. "Will you accept my apology?"

"You haven't exactly said you're sorry yet Abigail." He was trying very hard to continue being angry with her, but he loved her, and she was standing there in a nightdress that barely covered anything saying she wanted to apologize. This woman was going to kill him one day. "You keep saying the word apology, but not the words 'I'm sorry', do you think you could manage those words?"

It was taking all of his will power not to pick her up and toss her on their bed, but he knew that making her apologize for real would just get her even more worked up. She hated apologizing. Her fingers made their way up his chest and she deftly slid her hands under the lapels of his jacket, pushing it to the floor. Her lips connected with the underside of his jaw as she unbuttoned his dress shirt and discarded it alongside the jacket.

"Abbey…" He groaned as she worked her hands over his now bare chest. He couldn't handle it anymore, he bent and scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. Dropping her unceremoniously in the middle of it.

He started at her feet, working his way up her legs trailing kisses ever so softly along the inner portion of each leg. He was being meaningfully cruel, staying as far away as possible from the places that he knew she liked most.

"Jed…" She moaned his name almost as a plea as he left her alone on the bed. Moving away from her to sit across the room in the armchair. She propped herself up on her elbows to look at him, an infamous Dr. Abigail Bartlet glare on her face. It was a whisper, which was all she was willing to give. "Jed, I'm sorry."

He moved painfully slowly. Drawing out her torture for as long as possible. When he reached her he cupped her cheek in his hand and grinned, "What was that Sweet Knees?"

Her glare only intensified, but she wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him down on top of her, "You heard me Jackass."

* * *

The next morning things had changed. Everything it seemed had gone back to the way it was before he had announced. Before she had found out via national television, before she had made that one awful mistake. The staff could tell that everything was back to normal. No one had any idea what had happened the night before, but they knew better than to ask.

Abbey introduced him, Jed made his speech, and they boarded the plane to Washington hand in hand. Her mistake was forgiven, their marriage was revived and they were running for reelection. Only after mistakes come accidents…


	2. Chapter 2-Erudite and Blackwell

**Hey Lovelies! So I don't know if you can hear me, or if you even care...(I have Disney music playing in the background) but here is chapter two of our story. In this version Jed's MS is common knowledge, and Abbey doesn't give up her license, just so you are all aware of how things are working. Enjoy! And Happy Reading!**

Chapter 2 – Erudite and Blackwell

The weeks seemed to pass in a blur after the announcement at Manchester. The President and the First Lady went back to their old selves, and that included separate agendas. They were seeing even less of each other than they did when they were fighting. On more than one occasion Jed found himself thinking back to the night that Abbey "apologized".

He missed her when she was gone, and he found himself longing for her when she spent more than a couple of nights away from him. Maybe it had something to do with not getting to touch her for two months over the summer, but by the middle of September it seemed like he was going through withdrawals when she left.

The First Lady wasn't much better. For being fifty-two years old there were a few things that she needed just as much as the next girl. Some uninterrupted time, alone, with her husband was at the top of that list. Since Manchester they hadn't had much time, and that was two months ago. She was dying a little bit each time she had to spend the night alone.

Jed had a lot of things on his plate in the West Wing, and so all of the domestic affairs had been left to Abbey. It was only September, but there were already holiday plans to be made, and all sorts of decisions to be made. After last year's fiasco Jed was insisting that they spend the holiday in New Hampshire, and secretly Abbey agreed. Right now however her focus was on the Daughters of the American Revolution and the speech she was getting ready to give.

She had always hated public speaking, being an Adjunct Professor at Harvard freaked her out, let alone a speech in front of all of these women, many notable names among them. Granted she herself was a notable name in her own right, becoming First Lady had only added another title to her name. Even after three years of Jed introducing her to people as First Lady Dr. Abigail Bartlet it hadn't gotten old. Wield a scalpel, perform life saving surgery, and hold someone's heart in her hand, no big deal. Give a speech in a room full of women…

"Ma'am," she looked up at the assistant that was speaking to her and smiled, "You're on."

"Thank you." She squared her shoulders and temporarily fixed that smile to her lips. She really hated public speaking. She took the steps slowly; deliberately drawing out the time it took her to reach the podium.

She looked out over the crowd, and spotted a familiar face in the front row. Dr. Millicent Griffith smiled up at her. She relaxed some as she began to speak, though she felt increasingly worse throughout the entire thing. The nausea that usually subsided a few minutes in was still plaguing her as the crowd stood and applauded.

Abbey caught Millie's eye as she headed for the stage exit, and she smiled quietly as she saw her friend smoothly extricate herself from the crowd and head back stage. When Millie reached the First Lady she realized that she hadn't been summoned for a social chat, there was something wrong with Abbey. When Millie reached her the brunette was swaying slightly on her feet, clearly lightheaded and dizzy. Just as Millie was preparing to start asking questions of her Abbey collapsed quietly into her arms.

Millie's head shot up to find the closest Secret Service Agent. There were quite a number of them surrounding the two of them in seconds, blocking them from the view of on lookers. Millie had sunk to the ground cradling her friend's head in her lap as she began a quick assessment of the First Lady. Physically from the outside there appeared to be nothing wrong, or at least nothing out of the ordinary. There were deep circles under Abbey's eyes that Millie hadn't even noticed until she held her this close. They were carefully covered up and concealed, but lack of sleep was to be expected when you lived in the White House.

"Ma'am?" She looked up at the agent that had spoken, "We've called for an ambulance and they know you are here. Can you give us any information?"

Millie shook her head, "I hadn't even spoken to her yet. I could tell she was dizzy, and most likely a little light headed, but other than that she appears physically in good health. Whatever this is it is internal, I'd like to run some tests when we get to the hospital."

"You are the doctor listed in her file ma'am, you are who we would have called to treat her anyway. Do whatever you think is best until the President arrives, since she's unconscious it is his call."

"Of course. Physically I'm not worried about any internal injuries she hasn't been around any explosions or anything lately has she?"

"No ma'am."

"And as far as you are aware she hasn't hit her head today, or anything that may have caused a brain injury?"

"No ma'am."

"Right." She looked down at her friend, who was breathing normally and appeared to be sleeping in her lap. "Then I want you to do me a favor, pick her up and carry her as quickly as you can to the ambulance. I want her out of here before the cameras catch sight of what's going on."

"Yes ma'am." He moved his wrist to his mouth and spoke to the agents waiting by the ambulance, "I have Erudite and Blackwell and we are moving." He bent and gently lifted the First Lady into his arms, cradling her so that she was tipped against his chest. "Doctor Griffith, I'm going to ask you to keep up."

She nodded and slipped her heels from her feet, allowing them to dangle from her fingers, "Of course, let's go." And together, he carrying the First Lady, they took off down the hall surrounded by the rest of the First Lady's guards.

As they slid into the ambulance Millie looked around at the guards that still accompanied them. "Out!" She barked, and they just stared at her. "Two, only two of you get to ride in here, we need room to work, room to examine her, and I'm not going to be able to do my job and give you any more information if I can't get to her! Out!"

A nod from the man that carried her and the extra agents slipped out of the ambulance. Both paramedics rode in the front and only the one agent remained in the back with them. The First Lady had still shown no signs of waking up, and Millie couldn't help but believe that this may be exhaustion and dehydration coming into play. She looked across at the agent that was accompanying them, "Has anyone contacted the President?"

"Not yet ma'am. We talked to Mr. McGarry though and he said he would tell him right away."

"Good. Which hospital are we headed for?"

"George Washington University ma'am."

"Thank you." She turned her attention back to her friend. "What have you gotten yourself into now girlfriend?"

* * *

"Mr. President?" Jed looked up at Leo from across the Oval. The look on his face immediately caused an increase in his blood pressure.

"What happened Leo? What's wrong?"

Leo took another step towards the desk. "It's Abbey."

Jed was out of his chair as fast as he could get that way. "What happened Leo?" Abbey. Not Abbey. This was not happening, they had just gotten themselves back and now this, hell he didn't even know what this was! "Leo!"

"She was giving a speech for the Daughters of the American Revolution and when she got off stage she collapsed. Millie was there, she caught her and she's in the ambulance with her now." He paused for a second and let the information sink in before continuing, "Mr. President, she still hasn't regained consciousness."

Jed leaned against the desk for support as Leo's words hit him. He had been prepared for an attack, a threat on her life by an outside source. This was different. He was the one who got sick she was the doctor. She was never sick! "She's not waking up? Do we know why?"

Leo shook his head, "No sir. Dr. Griffith seems to think it may be extreme exhaustion that is keeping her out this long."

"Okay," he nodded and stood up straight, "Charlie!" The boy came quickly into the room. "Charlie what does my schedule have left for tonight?"

"Nothing important sir, it's already nine thirty. Is there something you need sir?"

"A car. Have a car meet me out front as fast as we can both get there. If anyone asks where I'm going tell them the truth, you don't know."

"Yes sir." He nodded and backed out of the room to secure the President's ride.

"Leo?"

"Sir?"

"Come on." He headed out the door through Leo's office and moved towards the outside doors, his chief of staff trailing him. When he got in the car he turned to Leo, "Where are we headed?"

"GWU Hospital sir." The secret service agent in the front seat answered. "Dr. Bartlet has just been admitted."

"Thank you." He looked back at Leo, "Do the girls know?"

"I don't know sir, but I can find out."

"Do that." He moved to staring out the window, "And Leo, try to make sure that they don't panic. When Abbey wakes up she's going to be a handful as it is, there's no need to subject the girls to that."

"Of course sir."

* * *

Millie was carrying the results of the rapid blood test as she practically jogged back down the hall to Abbey's room. She'd be dammed if the First Lady were to suddenly wake up alone. She sank down in the chair facing the door so that she could see who was trying to enter the room, and she opened the file she had been carrying.

She read the results, and when her eyes scanned over them she was stunned. She looked up at her friend lying peacefully in the bed and then back down at the write up. This couldn't be right, Abbey would have known, she would have told somebody. Maybe she did, after all she hadn't talked to her for a couple weeks. Someone had said Jed was on his way she would ask him if Abbey had mentioned anything.

The door opened and her eyes shot up to find the man in question standing in the frame. "Millie? What's going on?"

She sighed, so much for him knowing, it would have been his first question. "Well Mr. President,"

"Millie, tonight I'm just Jed."

She nodded, "Jed, I have a fairly good idea, but I won't know until she wakes. We gave her some fluids and something to help bring her back to consciousness. Hopefully she will open her eyes any minute." She put her hand on his shoulder as she passed him on her way to the door. Now wasn't the time. She'd wait for Abbey to wake up and feel her out, maybe she was wrong.


	3. Chapter 3-Accidents

**Hey Lovelies! So Chapter 3 is ready to go! I hope that you guys enjoy reading this as much as I loved writing it! Enjoy and Happy Reading!**

Chapter 3 – Accidents

"Millie…" Abbey began to stir as the medication that Millie had given her spread through her system.

"Well that's what every man wants to hear. His wife mumbling another woman's name as she wakes up." He chuckled as he leaned over and kissed her softly on the forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Groggy. Where's Millie, she was the last person I remember seeing. That's why I asked for her Idiot."

"I know. She left a little while ago. She was with you the whole time until I could get here.

Abbey tried to sit up, but Jed pushed her gently back down on the bed. "Jed, I am fine, let me up." She looked around her, trying to place her surroundings. "Where are we?"

"George Washington University Hospital. You collapsed on Millie after your speech." His blue eyes were soft and worried when she met them with her own green ones. "Why didn't you say anything if you weren't feeling right?"

"You know how I get before a big speech. I thought it was just nerves. I didn't think that things were really wrong." She reached out for him and he took her hand. "Do we know what happened?"

"Not yet. Millie said she had an idea but she wanted to talk to you about it before she said anything for sure. I'm sure she will be in here to check on you again in a minute."

Abbey huffed but laid back against the pillows. "I hate hospitals."

Jed couldn't help his laugh, "Says the world class surgeon." He picked up her hand that was still clutched in his own and brought it to his lips, gently kissing each knuckle. "You don't hate hospitals dear, you hate being the patient."

She grinned at him, "You are ruining my pouting Jackass."

"I'm sorry." The glint in his eye said he wasn't the least bit sorry at all, but the door behind him swung open before she could call him on it. Millie smiled when she saw that Abbey was sitting up and talking.

"Hey girl," she smiled at her, "You scared me tonight! What were you thinking getting up on stage and talking for half and hour if you were sick?"

Abbey rolled her eyes, "I went to medical school too Millie, if I had known I was really sick I wouldn't have done it." She held her hand out for the chart that Millie was holding. "Now, do we know what happened yet?"

Millie pulled the chart out of reach and grinned, "Oh no you don't. Tonight you are the patient, not the doctor. And as far as what's wrong I have an idea, but I need you to answer some questions for me." She looked down at Jed who was still sitting next to the bed. "Jed, if you want to wait out-"

"No way! I'm staying right here!" He looked across at his wife who nodded.

"He can stay Millie. Come on, questions."

Millie shook her head but she knew better than to argue with the two most stubborn people she had ever met. "Okay, what symptoms were you experiencing besides the dizziness and light headedness as you exited the stage earlier tonight?"

Abbey thought for a second, "I was nauseous, but I always am before a speech. Only this time instead of disappearing a few minutes in it lasted the entire time, even as you all were giving me a standing ovation." Her eyes went wide. "Oh God, how many people know that I collapsed?"

"Only myself and the agents as far as I know. Excuses were made to the Daughters." She smiled, "I'm sure they will understand Abbey, we took you away in an ambulance."

"Okay." She looked at Jed and he could see the worry and the apology written in her eyes, but he just squeezed her hand as Millie moved on.

"Okay your blood pressure was normal and the rest of your stats look good. I had a rapid blood test done and I have a few questions there." She took a deep breath she didn't want to do this with Jed here too. "Alright when was your last cycle?"

"We are getting older Mil, they aren't as regular as they used to be."

"I know, that's why I'm asking. Answer the questions Abs."

The brunette played with the fabric of the sheets between her fingers, her eyes trained on the stitching of the blanket. "July. End of June, first of July, right before Manchester."

Millie wrote it down and started doing the math in her head, she had a sinking feeling that the labs weren't wrong after all. She was going to have to take this cautiously from here on out. She didn't know what kind of reaction she was going to get from either one of them. All she could do was hope that Abbey figured out where she was going with this and put the pieces together herself.

After a series of routine questions that all seemed fine she directed the questions back towards her goal. Trying to determine whether or not she was right in her diagnosis. "Any headaches more headaches than usual lately?"

"Umm, yeah I guess you could say more than normal."

"Any tenderness or swelling around your body?"

This time the pause was longer, and her answer came very quietly, "A bit yeah."

"Okay, you're sporting some pretty deep circles under your eyes, are you more tired than usual?"

Abbey's eyes finally shot up to meet Millie's, she may be a surgeon, but she knew this line of questioning. She smiled slyly at her friend. "You could say that. Mil, can I see my labs now?"

"I'm caught huh?"

"Yeah," she laughed and pulled her hand away from Jed as she took the file. Reading through it she sighed a little when she hit the same line that had caused Millie to react with shock earlier. "The levels are right with the timing." She looked up at her, "You're sure these are right?"

"They were run super quickly, you've been here for three hours now, I'm sure the more accurate ones will be ready soon."

Jed looked back and forth between the two women as they discussed Abbey's chart and blood test and results. He was an economist, not a doctor; he had no idea what they were talking about. He reached out and squeezed Abbey's knee. "Hey, what's going on? You're not sick are you?"

She could see the worry in his eyes. The worry that wouldn't have been there eight years ago, but now couldn't be helped. "No." She smiled the smile reserved only for him at him. "No I'm not sick." She turned and handed the chart back to her friend. "Do you think you could give us a minute?"

The smile on Abbey's face when she had realized what Millie was trying to say had made her relax. If there was a panic it would only be one Bartlet, not two. "Of course. I'll leave you two alone, and I will come back to check on you in a bit." She bent down and hugged her so that she could whisper in her ear, "Can I say congrats?"

She felt Abbey nod slightly as she released her, and she quickly left the room. Jed was in for a shock, especially since Millie was almost one hundred percent certain it was an accident.

Abbey was still trying to process what was happening, she was fifty-two! This shouldn't be happening at all, and yet here they were. She turned to face Jed, who was staring at her with those pale blue eyes. Well there was only one thing to do, she had to tell him, "Jethro…"

"Don't call me that Abigail." He tried to be stern but the corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

"I'll call you what I like boyfriend." She reached her hand out and slipped it easily into his. "Jed, we may have had a little," she paused trying to come up with the right word, "accident, up in Manchester."

"An accident?" He looked confused, "What do you mean an accident? I don't remember," he stopped when he realized where she had shifted their hands. Instead of resting on her thigh where they had started she had spread his hand out across her abdomen, holding it there with her own. He looked at their hands for a moment, and then looked back up to meet her eyes.

Tears were brimming in in what he considered the prettiest pair of eyes in the world. "Abbey?"

"Yeah?" Her voice was thick as she tried to hold it together.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, "Everything fits, and the rapid blood test shows an increase in hormones that would indicate,"

He held up his hand to stop her, "I don't want know what the doctor thinks, I want to what you think. Are you okay?"

Her smile grew even wider, "I'm more than okay. I thought that I was going to panic when I first saw what it said, but then I looked over and you were sitting right next to me, and all I could think was we can do this." She paused and studied his face, "We can do this right?"

"You're safe? It's not too dangerous?"

"I'm not going to lie, it's risky, on each account, but Jed, I can't,"

"No!" He moved his thumb back and forth across the flat plane of her stomach, "And I'd never ask you to! If you think you can do this, if you're sure that to not too dangerous, then I'm with you one hundred percent, I love you Abigail." He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her lips. A reassurance of the words he had just said.

"I love you too." She brought her free hand up to cup his cheek as she felt a tear slid silently down her own. He kissed it away and she smiled, "I love you too."

He pulled away from her and moved their hands away from her stomach; gently he pressed a kiss just below her navel as he looked up to meet her eyes. With his lips still pressed to her abdomen he grinned and whispered, "And I love you too."

She had had enough; she reached out for him and pulled him onto the bed next to her. She turned on her side and his arm draped loosely over her waist, his finger drawing small circles on her stomach. "I don't think I'm supposed to be up here Sweet Knees."

She turned her head to look over her shoulder at him; "You knocked me up Jackass, now it's your job to hold on to me." She grinned as his kissed her temple.

He chuckled into her curls, "It was an accident!"


	4. Chapter 4-First Baby

**Hey Lovelies! So this story is one of my favorites to write! I just love Abbey and Jed and their dynamic as a couple. They are so strong for each other, ahhh I love them! Anyway, enjoy!**

Chapter 4 – First Baby

That's how Millie found them ten minutes later. Curled up together on Abbey's bed, Jed's hand lying protectively across her stomach. Jed's eyes opened at the sound of the door but Abbey's remained closed. She had fallen asleep in her husband's embrace. Millie smiled at the sight of them, "I take it congratulations are in order Mr. President?"

"Indeed they are. Millie?"

"Yes sir?"

"I know that I'm not a doctor, but this can't be easy on her. She won't tell me just how dangerous this is, so I'm asking you. What could happen to them?"

"Well as far as Abbey, she is a very healthy woman, I think that she should be fine. She is going to have to slow down though. This is a very high-risk pregnancy given her age. However I think that she can do this." She sighed as she looked down at her friend. "As far as the baby goes, there are some things that we become increasingly more aware of as a mother ages. We can run some genetic tests if you two decide that you want to know before hand. If there's any reason that we should,"

"Absolutely not." Abbey's voice was sleepy but her message came through strong. "I want the test Millie, but only so that I know what to prepare for. I will not do anything to harm this child."

She shifted and both she and Jed sat up, him sliding off the bed and back into the chair he had been sitting in before. Millie sighed, she knew that this was the most likely outcome, but she didn't want to see her friend go through it if there was anything wrong.

"Millie?" Jed's voice brought her back to reality. "Is there a problem with Abbey's request?"

She shook her head, "Of course not, I will go and get the stuff." She turned to the brunette, "You may want to prepare yourself Abbey, this isn't going to be a pleasant experience."

"I assumed not…" The First Lady smiled and mumbled under her breath as the other woman left the room. Once she had gone she turned to her husband. "I'm making the right call aren't I?"

"For us, yes. You are making the right call for our family." He squeezed her hand as Millie came back into the room pulling a portable ultrasound machine with her.

"I know it's not my place," they both looked up at the blonde haired doctor, "but I agree. Keeping this baby is a big thing, and I think it's the right thing."

Abbey smiled at her, "It is your place, you are my doctor, but you're also my best friend. I value your opinion."

"Well my opinion is that the two of you are wonderful parents, and this kid couldn't get any luckier. Would you like to see it?"

She didn't trust her voice in that moment so she just nodded. She realized as she lifted the hem of her blouse that no one had bothered to put her in a hospital gown and for that she was grateful. Millie chuckled at her sharp intake of breath when she put the ultrasound gel on her stomach. "Abs you're a doctor you should have known it was going to be cold!"

"It's always colder than I'm expecting for some reason!" She started to laugh but then fell silent as the steady thrumming of the baby's heartbeat reached her ears. Tears instantly sprang to her eyes and her hand shot out for Jed's.

"Here you go guys." Millie turned the monitor so that they could both see it. "That right there," she pointed to the far bottom left of the screen, "is our First Baby."

Jed laughed, but Abbey groaned at the nickname. "As soon as the press gets ahold of this there isn't going to be a magazine in the country that isn't talking about the First Baby! Can you imagine when we find out if it's a boy or a girl…they are never going to leave me alone!"

Jed's laughter ceased instantly when he registered his wife's reaction. "Yes they will. I'll make sure of it. As for finding out gender, there are some other tests to run first. Millie?" He looked across Abbey to where the Surgeon General was standing next to the monitor.

"He's right. I can't probably run some sort of test that can tell us or you can just wait it out. Another ten weeks and we should know for sure. 20 weeks is pretty accurate for ultrasounds."

"You're talking to a doctor Mil, and a mother of three. I remember how that part works. It's this new needle stick that I'm worried about."

"Sweetie I'm going to apologize in advance this is probably going to hurt like hell."

"Probably?"

"Well, I'm the Surgeon General, as First Lady you actively practice more medicine than I do! Speaking of which, no more surgeries for a the time being."

"But,"

"No buts. This is a high risk pregnancy and I won't have you standing on your feet for twelve hours or more at a time. You are the First Lady, I'm sure you have other things you can be doing besides heart surgery!"

"Ah!" Abbey winced. Millie had started to push the needle through her abdomen in order to extract a small amount of the amniotic fluid surrounding the baby. "It sure isn't the most pleasant procedure to have done."

"Millie?" When she had finished she started gathering up all of the items that she had used, but she turned back towards the First Couple.

"Yes Mr. President?"

"Does she have to stay or can we go back to the Residence?"

Millie smirked, "If you promise to take extra good care of her she doesn't have to stay. It is almost midnight though, so you may stay if you wish. You two decide and I'll be back in a minute with discharge papers if you want them."

"Thanks Millie." He nodded to her as she left.

"Of course Sir."

He turned back to Abbey, who still had silent tears running down the tracks on her cheeks. "Hey Sweetie, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

She tried to smile, but at the same time she shook her head. "No. Ten weeks Jed, I've been pregnant for ten weeks and I didn't even notice! I'm a doctor! I should have noticed!"

"Abigail calm down! You didn't do anything wrong!" He wrapped his arms around her as she swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"That makes it worse! If I hurt this child in some way, if something I did in the last ten weeks causes anything to be wrong…"

"Hey," he ran his hand down her hair as she relaxed into his chest, "hey. It'll all be okay, I promise. Everything that happens, anything those tests results say, theses things were meant to be. We didn't plan for this baby, and yet here it is, I have to believe all this is happening like it is for a reason."

She took a deep breath, "You're right."

"What was that?" He pulled back away from her so that he could actually look at her.

She didn't lift her head from his chest and he could hear her smile in her words. "You heard me Jackass. And you are, this," her left hand drifted to her stomach, "this is for a reason."

When he heard the click of the door Jed peaked over his shoulder, but never let go of his wife. "What's the verdict in here guys?"

"I think I better take her home. Can you call down and,"

"I already had Leo get them, they are waiting for you in the hall. And just so you're prepared Leo is already asking questions."

He felt Abbey sigh right before she lifted her head to her friend. "Millie, I don't care if it gets out, I don't care why people think I was in here tonight, as of right now the White House's only comment will be that the First Lady is in good health and was given fluids at the hospital to help fend off some exhaustion." She looked at Jed, "Okay?"

"Sounds good to me. Make sure that you tell C.J."

She nodded, "Millie, paperwork?"

"Yeah, I filled it all out, I just need you signature as the patient, and Jed's saying that he is the one taking you home."

"Shouldn't you use the driver for that one?" Jed chuckled as he took the pen from Abbey.

"It's close enough Sir." She took the clipboard back and followed them into the hall. She gave Abbey a hug, "I'll be by to check on you in the next few days."

"Thank you. Why don't you have the agents take you home?"

"Already taken care of Ma'am." Leo appeared out of nowhere on the President's other side. "There is a car downstairs right behind yours."

"Thank you Leo." Jed locked his arm around Abbey's waist and headed for the elevator. "Let's go friends, we should get out of these good people's hair." He pulled her into the elevator and they were followed by Leo, Millie and three agents.

By the time they got to the car Abbey was exhausted again, and by the time they got to the White House she was asleep. Jed carried her up to their room, despite the protests that his back couldn't take it. "She's my wife!" He snapped at one agent, "I can carry her up the stairs!"

She woke up as he laid her gently on the bed, and she smiled when she realized where she was. "Did you carry me up here?"

He was rummaging around in her drawers trying to find something for her to wear, he came back holding out one of his own t-shirts, "Here wear this to bed tonight. Nobody will come in here in the morning I made damn sure of that."

"Jed?" Her tone was enough to cause him to turn and by the look on her face she was more than a little angry at him, "Did you carry me up here?"

"Yes." He kissed her softly, "I'll be fine Abbey, am I forgiven?"

"You're an idiot."

"That may be," he reached across the bed and flipped off her tabletop light before rolling over and switching off his own. Settling with his arm tucked protectively around her waist he kissed her hair, "But I'm your idiot."

"Goodnight Jackass." Her smile was audible.

"Goodnight Abigail."


	5. Chapter 5-Good Morning Mr President

**Hey Lovelies! Sorry it's been so long, writing papers for real life got me kind of side tracked. Here is the next installment in Abbey and Jed's lives! I hope you enjoy it!**

Chapter 5 – Good Morning Mr. President

Jed woke up early the next morning content with holding his sleeping wife against him as he thought about the days, well, the months to come. This was bound to come as a shock to everyone, their family and their staff included. Hell, it had come as a shock to them.

He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her shoulder before rolling over carefully, so as not to wake her, to check the clock. 6:23. He chuckled to himself, the staff, Leo in particular, probably didn't know what to to with themselves. For his entire presidency he had been awake by six in the morning.

He gently turned back over to look at his wife. Her chocolate curls spread out on the pillow and a small smile ghosting over her lips. "Just because we're married doesn't make waking up to someone staring at you any less creepy."

He laughed, "If you opened your eyes I wouldn't be staring at you, I'd be looking at you. Big difference Sweet Knees."

Her eyes shot open and she pecked his lips softly. "Nah, it's still creepy."

"You love it!" He pulled her in closer to him and she rested her head on his shoulder, fingers drawing lazy circles on his chest. "I can't remember the last time I slept past six in the morning, or the last time we could lay here like this and not have to worry about our schedules." He turned his head and swept a light kiss across her forehead. "I love it."

As his words sunk in Abbey sat straight up in the bed. Causing Jed's hand, which had been wrapped tightly around her waist to settle on her stomach. "Slept past six! What time is it?" She swiveled her head around trying to see the clock. "6:45! Josiah Bartlet, we are late! Get up!" She tried to pull away from him and climb out of bed, but he caught hold of her waist.

"We are not late for anything. Our days have been cancelled, and only the most important things will be rescheduled. Millie says you have to slow down, look at this as the first step." He smiled at her despite the glare she was throwing his way. He seemed to be the only person on the planet immune to it.

"This is not a first step, this is the equivalent of quitting cold turkey Jackass. Something you should look into, at least one of our children shouldn't have to deal with second hand smoke."

"Abbey…" He started to whine her name and she shot the glare at him again, this time he ceased his actions. Abbey smiled to herself, so much for immunizations.

"If we both cancel our entire day out of the blue right after I get admitted and then promptly discharged from the hospital, what are people going to think?"

He put pressure on her waist and lowered her back down next to him. "People are going to think that we needed a day to rest."

"No Jed! People are going to think I'm sick! You are already sick, and they deal with that, I can't be sick too!"

He kissed her softly to shut her up. "Good thing you're not sick then. Send a press statement down to C.J. and she will say whatever you would like." He felt her nod before her whole body froze again.

"What about the girls?"

"Hmm?"

"The girls Jethro! Our girls! The other three children I conceived, carried, nursed and raised for you! What are they going to think when they find out I was in the hospital last night?"

She had pushed away from him and was laying with one hand against his chest, holding her back so she could look him in the eye. "Relax, Abigail. I had Leo call them last night from the hospital, I believe that Ellie and Zoey are in their rooms and Liz will be here in time for dinner." He reached out one hand and gently tucked a loose curl behind her ear.

"You really thought of everything didn't you?"

"Well, I am the President, I am quite the multi-tasker." He waggled his eyebrows at her and she giggled at his playfulness. This was so unlike anything they had enjoyed for years. Not since they had lived in London and Elizabeth had been born. She felt almost exactly as she had then. Nervous beyond anything she had ever felt, but splendidly happy with the little life growing inside of her.

She leaned in and kissed him, relaxing just as he had told her to, at least until her stomach began to growl. "I think I need to eat something. I haven't had anything since about four-thirty yesterday afternoon."

"Abbey!" He glared at her. "You should have been taking better care of yourself even before you knew you were pregnant!"

"I didn't do it on purpose! Dinner was supposed to be served after my speech last night! I had something come up and I missed it!"

He sighed and climbed out of their bed, extending his hand to her as well. When she was standing in front of him he kissed her forehead and pushed her not so gently towards their bathroom. "Go get dressed and I'll call down and have them make us something to eat. I'll have the girls meet us in the dining room."

She nodded and he watched her walk away from him. A gentle sway to her hips as she padded barefoot towards the door, dressed only in his t-shirt and her underwear.

* * *

Thirty minutes later they walked hand in hand into the Residence's dining room. Both Ellie and Zoey were shocked by the image their parents presented. Their dad was in slacks and a white button down, and their mom was in a dark green, sweater dress and flats. They looked like they had when the girls were little, like the weight of the entire free world wasn't riding on their shoulders. They looked happy.

"Mom?" Abbey turned from Jed to look at her youngest daughter. She smiled and pulled her hand from Jed's, stepping towards the girls and opening her arms.

"Come here dears." Both girls rushed towards their mother and engulfed her in a hug. Abbey caught Jed's eye over Ellie's shoulder, and he chuckled.

"Girls, let your mother breathe, she's not going anywhere." They pulled back and Ellie looked at her mother suspiciously.

"Why were you admitted to the hospital last night?" She was following in her mother's footsteps and was studying to become a doctor, there was no way she was letting a hospital admittance go that easily.

Abbey shook her head, but she smiled broadly at the daughter that was most like her. "Later Eleanor. Wait for your sister to arrive and I will tell all three of you at once. It will be easier that way."

Ellie looked her mother squarely in the eye and held her gaze for a long moment before she nodded and stepped away to embrace her father. Zoey took Ellie's place before Abbey. "You're really okay though Mom? You're not sick?"

"No baby, I promise you, I'm not sick." She tucked a strand of Zoey's hair behind her ear. "Don't you worry, I'm going to be just fine."

"You're sure?"

Abbey didn't answer her, instead she wrapped an arm around her daughter's waist and led her towards the table. "Come on, I'm starving, let's have some breakfast." She looked over at Jed and Ellie who were also taking their places around the table. "Together."

A knock on the doorframe caused the First Family to look up from their conversation. "I'm sorry Sir, but C.J. wants to talk to you. It seems the press won't talk about anything but Dr. Bartlet this morning." He shifted his attention from the President to the First Lady. "Ma'am, how are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm fine Charlie, thanks for asking." She met Jed's eye across the table and he inclined her head to her, silently telling her that allowing C.J. in was her call. "Go ahead and show C.J. in please."

"Of course Ma'am." He nodded and backed out of the room, only for C.J. to replace him within moments.

"Good morning Mr. President." She nodded in acknowledgement towards him, "Dr. Bartlet, Eleanor, Zoey." She smiled at the women in the room. "I'm sorry to interrupt, given the order you gave this morning, but I need to ask if there is something you would like me to tell the press about last night?"

"You need to talk to Abbey C.J. she is fully capable of making her own decisions on this matter." He guided his press secretary's attention to his wife. "Abbey?"

She smiled up at C.J. from her seat at the table, "Simply tell them that I am in good health, and that I was admitted to the hospital last night for some tests and received fluids after blacking out following a speech."

"Ma'am?" C.J. looked confusedly back and forth between the First Lady and the President. "What if they ask me what the tests were looking for?"

"Tell them that more details will be available after we receive the results, but you can guarantee them that I am in good health."

"Of course ma'am." She nodded, "Enjoy your day as a family."

Jed smiled when she turned towards him. "Thank you C.J." She nodded once and backed out of the room just as Charlie had done.

Abbey met Jed's eyes over the table, and smiled openly. She had every intention of enjoying her gift of a day for her children. Unconsciously her hand settled over her stomach just under the edge of the table. All of her children.


	6. Chapter 6-Bartlet Family Dinner

**Hey Lovelies! I think it's time for the rest of the Bartlets to find out about the newest member of their family! Let me know what you think, and enjoy!**

Chapter 6 – Bartlet Family Dinner

The arrival of the eldest Bartlet daughter was not a quiet affair. As soon as Zoey saw the car pull up she took off around the front of the building to greet her big sister. She half dragged Liz around to the large back lawn of the White House. "Did you come by yourself?"

The absence of Doug and the kids suddenly dawned on Zoey, and Liz laughed. "Yes I did. Leo sounded like I needed to be here quick, and it was easier to come alone."

"Alone?" Abbey had followed Zoey around the side of the building and met them along their way back to the back lawn. "Elizabeth, you arrive here a full seventeen hours after your sisters and you didn't even bring my grand babies with you?" She was smiling at the same time she was scolding, and it lost some of its effect.

"Mom!" Liz rushed forward and wrapped her mom in a tight hug. "Are you alright? Should you be walking around the entire place? I mean, you were in the hospital last night."

Abbey patted her back as Lizzie released her. "I promise darling, I'm completely fine to be walking around wherever. I'm perfectly healthy."

"Yeah Mom, I saw the press statement, tell me the truth."

"Don't worry sis," Zoey stepped between them and looped her arms through theirs, guiding them back to her father and Ellie, "She hasn't told us what's wrong with her either, and if she doesn't soon I think El might resort to calling Aunt Millie."

"She will do no such thing." Abbey glared at Zoey, and she shrunk back. A smug grin tugged at the corner of Abigail's mouth, and when Ellie and Jed came into view she fixed her glare on her middle daughter. "Eleanor Emily Bartlet, you will not be calling your Aunt Millicent and inquiring about my health. Am I clear?"

Ellie shot Zoey a death glare before turning her full attention to her mother. She nodded, but held her mom's formidable gaze. She was the only one of the children that got away with standing up to Abbey.

"Elizabeth!" Jed broke the silence by moving forward to embrace their eldest. Pulling her away from Zoey and into a hug. "Did you come alone?"

"I did. Leo said that I needed to be here today, and it was easier to just leave the kids with Doug and come by myself."

"Ah," he nodded and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, the other wrapping around Abbey's waist as she joined him. "I see. Well, I believe that dinner will be ready in about an hour, why don't you two help your sister get settled, and we will meet you in the dining room."

He released Liz and pulled Abbey with him as they left the girls standing on the lawn. When they were safely in their suite he pulled her even closer to him. "Well," he looked down at her, "are you ready for this?"

She took a deep breath, some of her strong façade crumbling as she looked up into his eyes. "No. How do we tell our three grown adult daughters that we're having a baby? Telling them is going to be worse than telling the entire free world."

"Sweetheart that might be a little extreme. I'm sure the girls are going to be thrilled." He tried to reassure her, but she wasn't having any of it.

"Zoey may be thrilled, but Liz is going to be concerned, and Ellie is going to be positively unbearable. She's all too much like me for me to pretend that she's going to respond casually to this."

Jed didn't have a response to that he knew she was right. He simply pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms tightly around her. Allowing her a brief moment to fall apart before she composed herself and pulled back to smile at him. "Thank you."

"Of course. I love you, and we are in this together." He kissed her cheek and then his own fingers, pressing them to her abdomen as he guided her to the door. "All three of us."

"Well," she stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. "We love you too."

When the reached the dining room Abbey nodded and they entered hand in hand, much the same as they had for breakfast that morning. "Good evening my dears." Abbey smiled at her daughters as Jed pulled her chair out for her before moving to the other end of the table. The girls took the positions they had known so well since they were little; Liz on Jed's right, Zoey on his left and Ellie sitting at Abbey's right hand.

"Alright Mom," Ellie didn't waste any time, as soon as their salads were placed in front of them and the waiters had left the room she rounded on her mother, "please tell us what is going on. We don't often get called to the Residence all together, and you are never admitted to the hospital, something major is happening here."

Abbey looked up and saw Jed smirking at her down the table, so much for we're in this together. She swallowed the one bite she had managed to get to her mouth and sipped at her water as she made eye contact with her girls. At last her gaze rested on Ellie, "Something major is going on, yes. Ah," she raised a hand to silence her daughters as they all began to speak at once.

Jed interrupted, "Girls, let your mother get this out, then you can yell all you want, we can take it."

A collective intake of breathe from their daughters made Abbey roll her eyes, "That was extremely helpful in making them calm down Josiah, thank you."

"Of course dear. But seriously girls, let your mother finish."

They all three refocused on Abbey as she took another deep breath, "Well here goes." She mumbled. Her voice was loud enough to be heard down the length of the table when she spoke again. "Girls, you know that I gave a speech last night, and following that speech I collapsed on Millie. She had me taken to the hospital, and there she ran a few quick tests, along with providing fluids for dehydration, and to combat exhaustion."

She paused and all three girls nodded, waiting for her to continue. "All of the tests results came back as expected except for one." Her eyes followed Jed as he stood and moved around the table to stand with a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and he nodded, a small smile on his lips, "Girls, I'm pregnant."

"What?"

"No way?"

"Mom, you're not serious?" The girls all spoke at once and Abbey couldn't help but chuckle at their faces. In Liz she saw confusion and concern, Zoey excitement, and in Ellie she saw the look she knew she must have possessed at first as well, utter disbelief.

"I'm quite serious, Millie scrounged up an ultrasound machine last night," her hand that wasn't resting on Jed's was now laying across her stomach, "we got a chance to see it and hear the heartbeat. I'm about ten weeks."

Liz and Zoey began talking excitedly to one another, but Ellie had yet to speak. Abbey nodded to Jed, and he retook his seat, joining their eldest and their youngest in discussing having a baby in the White House. Abbey reached out her hand for Ellie, "Sweetheart, are you okay?"

Her mother's voice brought Ellie crashing back down to reality. "Mom, how could let this happen, this is really dangerous, not just for the baby, but for you! Are you sure that you have thought this through? I mean, I understand why you're going ahead with this, and I fully support it, but mom, you're fifty-two, are you sure you can handle this?"

She knew what was going through her daughter's head, everything that had gone through her own last night. "Eleanor, your father and I did not do this on purpose. I was in much the same state of mental shock that you are, if not more so since this is my body, and my life that are changing yet again."

"Oh Mom," she started to apologize, but Abbey stopped her.

"No, you're right. This is dangerous, but we are taking every precaution. I'm not going to actively practice, and I'm not going to run myself ragged here. I'm going to step back and take care of your sibling and myself. Millie is going to personally handle this pregnancy, and she's running some tests to determine if there are any abnormalities we should be aware of before it gets here. So you don't have to worry, alright?"

Ellie paused for a second, and studied her mother's eyes before she nodded. She gave her a watery smile, "I'll try, but I just can't help it."

Abbey wrapped her arms around her daughter, "I know baby, and I know you don't want to hear it, but you're so much like me in that regard."

"I'll always want to be like you."hey arrived only moments esy, anEllie and together they made their way upstairs to their room. They arrived only moments esy, an She whispered into her mother's curls.

A knock on the door to the dining room interrupted the family. "Excuse me Sir, Ma'am," Charlie ducked his head to acknowledge the girls, "Dr. Griffith is downstairs and she is asking to see you both."

Abbey's eyes shot up to meet Jed's and he gave her a slight nod. "Have her meet us in our suite Charlie. We are on our way up."

"Yes Ma'am." He nodded and with a small smile Zoey's way he left the room as quickly as he had come.

Jed took Abbey from Ellie and together they made their way upstairs to their room. They arrived only moments before Millie knocked on the door. Jed let go of Abbey's hand and she moved to the couch as he answered it.

"Abbey…" Millie smiled as she moved towards her friend, "Are you guys ready?"

The First Lady leaned against her husband as he sat down next to her. "Do you know what they say?" She nodded towards the file in her friend's hands.

"No," she smiled weakly, "I thought you would want to be the first to read them."

Abbey reached out across the space for the file, a small smile creeping onto her lips. "Thank you Millie."

"Thank me after. Go on and open them, let's find out everything we can about that baby."

Abbey took Jed's hand in hers and gave it a gently squeeze as she took a breath and opened the file lying across her arrived only moments esy, anEllie and together they made their way upstairs to their room. They arrived only moments esy, an


	7. Chapter 7-Revelations

**Hey Lovelies! So this is Chapter 7, wherein we find out what's up with Baby Bartlet! What all are we going to find out? Enjoy and Happy Reading!**

Chapter 7 – Revelations

It was a quiet trek back to the dining room. Millie followed the First Couple down the stairs in silence. Slow, steady streams of tears were carving their way down the First Lady's cheeks. None of them knew quite what to say, so they chose to say nothing, each processing the contents of the file in their own way.

When the door to the dining room was opened there was an audible intake of breath from the girls. They, as much as their parents, had wanted to know if the baby was healthy. Ellie reached them first, and upon seeing her mother's tears her own eyes began to well up. "Mom?"

She reached towards her to collect her mother into a warm embrace. Abbey smiled through her tears and stepped into Ellie's hug, but she released her quickly and pulled away to stand in the comfort of Jed's arms. "Why are you crying baby?" She brushed the tears off of her daughter's cheek before Ellie stepped away.

"Because you're crying Mom. What's going on? What did the tests conclude?" Ever the doctor in training Ellie wanted to see the file, but Millie was holding it close to her body. When Ellie reached for it Abbey shook her head.

"Eleanor, no. You don't need to read them." She met her daughter's gaze and she smiled. "The baby is perfectly fine. As far as we can tell from all of the tests that Millie ran, there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. We are extremely blessed." The last sentence she said while looking up at Jed. They were equally blessed in this.

Her words seemed to take a minute to sink in and then Zoey came rushing forward. Pulling her mother away from her dad and shrieking in her ear as she wrapped her in a hug. "I'm so excited!"

Liz laughed at her baby sister, but offered her mother quieter and more reserved congratulations. She and Zoey started laughing and debating about whether or not it will be another girl or if their dad is finally going to get that boy this time around. All the while Ellie still hadn't said much. All of her training was making it difficult for her to accept that everything looked completely normal.

When Abbey was distracted by something that one of the other two had said Ellie made her way over to her godmother. "Aunt Mil?" She raised an eyebrow and extended her hand.

Throwing a glance towards the First Lady Millie sighed, "You're not going to believe that they are both healthy until you've seen it for yourself are you?"

"No." She smiled, waiting for the file that she knew her aunt would end up handing over eventually.

"Fine, but don't let your mother catch you. She will kill you and then me and then you again. And she's going to need at least one doctor beside herself around for a while. She's not going to take slowing down well, but it's best for her and for the baby." She handed over the file, but didn't let go of it until her goddaughter met her eyes. "You promise me that what you see in this file is a secret. Even from your sisters. Got it."

"Yes Ma'am." She smiled and pulled the file away, flipping it open to look at the first page of test results. Her eyes grew wide as she read that everything was indeed fine, with her mother and her littlest sibling. When she reached the very last page she glanced up. "Do I want to know?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Not well enough." She closed the folder and handed it back to Millie. "I'll wait and find out later on like everyone else. Do they know?"

"Your mother does. She read the file. She hasn't told your father yet. I don't know if she will or not."

"Oh she will." Ellie laughed as she looked across the room to where her parents had taken their places at the table again. "He won't be able to sleep knowing that she knows and he doesn't. Come on, join us for dinner."

Millie shook her head, "I can't I have some other things I need to get done, I'm just waiting on my car to be brought back around."

"Of course." She leaned in and kissed her aunt on the cheek. "Thank you for taking care of them."

"You can count on it."

Just then the door to the dining room opened and Charlie poked his head in. "Dr. Griffith, your car is ready."

"Thank you Charlie." She smiled at the boy and he started to step out of the room, only to have the President call him back in.

"Charlie, come in here and shut the door behind you."

The young man looked confused, but after Millie had said goodbye to both Abbey and Jed and the door was shut behind her he turned to face the First Family. "Yes Sir?"

Jed looked across at Abbey and she nodded, Charlie was like family, and he deserved to be in the know on this one. Even before the rest of the staff. "Charlie you know that Abigail was hospitalized last night, and that Dr. Griffith has just brought around her tests results?"

Charlie chuckled. "I think the entire building knows that by now Sir."

"Anyway, you know that we consider you family, so after the girls it is only right that you are the next one to hear what's really going on." He was dragging this out like he usually did everything, and Abbey was starting to find herself terribly annoyed with the whole thing.

"Jed, either tell the boy or I will do it myself. Seriously, just get on with it."

The girls laughed at their mother's admonishment and their father's crestfallen face. He looked from his wife back to Charlie and sighed. "Abbey and I are having another baby."

Charlie had to catch himself before his mouth dropped open. "I'm sorry, let me make sure I heard you right, you and Dr. Bartlet are having a baby?"

"Yes that's right." Jed was grinning and Abbey was shaking her head as she chuckled at the boy's reaction.

Charlie turned to look at her as Zoey came up beside him. "No offense ma'am, but aren't you a little," he paused trying to find the best way to ask his question.

"Old?" Zoey piped up from next to him. "Yeah, she is, but she's fine, and so is the baby, that's what Aunt Millie came to tell us." She laughed at her boyfriend's expression as it went from shock to confusion and finally to happiness.

"Well, then I guess a congratulations is in order." He bent and took Abbey's hand, kissing the back of it, before he nodded once to Jed.

"Come on Charlie, sit and have dinner with us. I'm afraid we already messed up the salad course, but everything else is on point."

"Ma'am that's not…" He started to protest but Abbey cut him off.

"Nonsense. I am the First Lady, this is the White House, and I say who eats dinner with us. Tonight that is you. Sit."

"Yes ma'am." He took Ellie's place from earlier so that he could sit next to Zoey and Ellie switched to her mother's other side.

The rest of their evening went by peacefully and by the time they had disbanded for the evening Abbey was exhausted. She leaned heavily on Jed as they made their way back up the stairs to their room. Tomorrow was back to business as usual in the White House, with the only change being that the First Lady had a secret, and it was one she wasn't quite willing to share yet.

"Hey Sweet Knees." He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, his hands framing her stomach in the mirror. "So, know that you know our little one is perfect, how are you feeling?"

She smiled and met his eyes in the mirror, "Wonderful. There was something else in that file that I haven't told you yet. I didn't know whether you would want to know or not."

"Oh?" Worry filled his features for a moment, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! There's nothing wrong, it's just the last page of the file, Millie ran another test."

"What test was that?"

"Gender…"

His eyes lit up, "You know if it's a girl or a boy already?"

She laughed at his reaction, "I do. And I know that with each of the girls you wanted to be surprised so we never found out. I didn't know if you would want to go the same route again this time or not?"

He thought about it for a minute. "But you know already?"

She nodded, "Yes."

"Okay, then I want to know too."

"You're sure?" She turned around to face him, a serious expression on her face. "There's no going back once you know."

"I know." He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. "Tell me, are we adding another Bartlet woman to the world, or did we finally manage a boy?"

She stood on her tiptoes, even though they were alone in their own bathroom and whispered in his ear…hey arrived only moments esy, anEllie and together they made their way upstairs to their room. They arrived only moments esy, an


	8. Chapter 8-White House Senior Staffers

**Hey Lovelies! I know I'm mean and terrible, both Abbey and Jed know the baby's gender and I'm refusing to tell you. How evil am I? Does it help if I tell you that I know too...probably not... Oh well, here is the next chapter, people are starting to get suspicious... Enjoy and Happy reading!**

Chapter 8 – White House Senior Staffers

A full week had passed since the First Lady was admitted to the hospital after blacking out backstage. The White House staff had found the entire situation a relatively strange one. Both the President and the First Lady had taken the whole of the following day off, and they had called in the First Daughters. And then nothing. The very next day everything had gone right back to normal.

The President went to the Oval Office; the First Lady was in her office in the East Wing, and the girls disappeared back to their respective lives. The First Family continued on as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

C.J. fielded questions about the First Lady's health for a few days, but when all they could get out of both her and the Surgeon General was that the First Lady was perfectly healthy, even those questions died away. Life at the White House was once again "boring."

At least that's how the staff saw it until they started to notice the subtle changes. The little things that were different after the night of the speech. The fact that the First Lady would neither stand nor sit anywhere comfortably for more than twenty minutes at a time didn't go unnoticed by the staff, neither did the fact that she was refusing to schedule any parties, meetings or social engagements for anytime after the beginning of April.

When one of her staffers mentioned this to Donna she immediately went to find Josh. "Josh!" She caught up with him in the hallway headed for their offices.

"What's up?"

"What's wrong with the First Lady?"

He chuckled, "I'm sorry?"

"The First Lady, what's the matter with her?"

He stopped walking and looked at her, "What are you talking about? She's fine. She got sent to the hospital, they gave her some fluids, she took a day off and now she's fine."

"No Josh, she's not. She's restless, she hasn't left the White House in a week, she's not practicing medicine and she is refusing to schedule anything after the first week of April. There is something wrong!"

"Okay, I'll look into it okay?"

Donna nodded and moved to her desk, "I just want to know if she's okay. I really like her Josh!"

"I know. I like her too."

"Like who?" Sam came up behind Josh.

"The First Lady. We like the First Lady."

"Oh." Sam paused, obviously confused by the entire conversation. "Me too. Come on Leo wants to see the Senior Staff in his office."

Sam walked away and Josh looked back at Donna over his shoulder. "I'll find out."

She nodded and watched him walk off, hoping that Josh would be good to his word on this one.

* * *

When they were wrapping up the meeting Josh decided to breech the subject of Abbey with Leo. "Do we know anything more about the First Lady?"

"Josh?" Leo looked up from his paperwork, "What do you mean?"

Josh absentmindedly rubbed the back of his neck; "It's just that Donna mentioned that she hasn't been acting like her self lately. Like maybe there is something more going on with her that we don't know about?"

"Oh?" C.J. perked up, "What do you mean?"

"I guess she hasn't left the building all week, and she's not practicing medicine anymore. There was something about not taking any big things after April of next year. All of that after a hospital visit that they have been pretty quiet about. We were just concerned about her."

C.J. and Sam were nodding along with what he was saying, but Leo held up his hand. "Listen. I'm sure that if there was something that we needed to know either the President or the First Lady would tell us. If her staff doesn't know of anything wrong with her, I'm sure that she is fine. If there is nothing else get out of my office, we all have things we need to be doing."

A chorus of "Yes Sirs" followed the Senior Staff out the door. Leo sat down at his desk and took a deep breath. Surely Jed would have said something if there was anything that they needed to worry about right? They wouldn't think that they had to bear whatever this was alone?

Who was he kidding this was the Bartlets? Of course they would think that they had to handle this alone. They wouldn't want to burden anyone with their problems. Especially since their problems would most certainly become topics of national discussion.

"Margaret!" The red head immediately showed up in the doorway. "Where is the President?"

"Alone in his office Sir. Is there something that you need?"

"No, thank you." He stood up and headed for the door that led from his office to the President's. "I'm going to talk to him, if I have any calls hold them."

"Yes Sir." She bobbed her head once and backed out of his office to her desk.

He knocked on the door separating them and then pushed it open. Jed looked up when he stepped into the room. "Sir? Do you have a minute?"

"Sure Leo." He stood and gestured to the sofas in the middle of the room. "What's on your mind?"

Leo took a seat across from the President and took a deep breath. "It's not just me Sir. It's the entire Senior Staff. We are worried about the First Lady."

A funny expression crossed the President's face, but he quickly regained control over it. "What do you mean? Abbey is fine."

"Yes Sir. That's what we are worried about. You have both been saying she is fine, but we can't help but notice that some things have changed since that night." There was no need to be more specific, Jed knew exactly when he was talking about.

"Changed? What's changed Leo?"

"The staff seems to think that she hasn't been acting like herself lately. There is talk that she may not be practicing anymore and something was mentioned about her not taking any social engagements after April. Is there something that we need to know Sir?"

"Leo if we say that my wife is fine and perfectly healthy I would think that you would assume that she is fine and perfectly healthy. Millie told her after she collapsed that she had to slow down a bit. She is starting to figure out how to do that. It's been a week Leo people are going to talk. Give her some time to get back on her feet before you all start to panic. I promise, this is Millie's doing, Abbey is fine."

"You're sure Mr. President? You know that you can trust me with whatever this is right?"

"Leo, I trust you with everything. There is nothing else that you need to know. Abbey is fine. Tired, slowing down a bit on Millie's orders, but fine. If you don't believe me call Millie!" He was starting to get angry, and Leo could tell.

"I'm sorry Mr. President. The staff would just hate to see anything happen to the First Lady, we are rather fond of her sir." He smiled at the President and he saw him begin to relax some. "I'll tell the staff to drop it. That the First Lady is, indeed, fine."

"Thank you Leo." He nodded to his Chief of Staff as he left and then called out for his assistant. "Charlie!"

The boy came into the room. "Yes Sir?"

"Can you get Abbey over here I need to talk to her?"

Charlie cringed a little bit, "Sir, I'm sure you are aware, but the First Lady has an aversion to being summoned to the Oval Office."

Jed grinned, "I know. Try asking nicely. I'll deal with the backlash when she gets here."

"Yes Sir." Charlie started to leave the room before he turned back and grinned, "Just so you know Sir, she bit my head off for telling her that we were out of strawberries earlier."

"Great…" Jed shook his head as the boy left to go find his very hormonal wife.

* * *

Back in Leo's office he called Josh, "Lyman" came the voice from the other end of the line.

"I just wanted you to know that I spoke with the President, and the First Lady is taking on less as per the orders of the Surgeon General after what happened last week. She is in good health, she just has to slow down a bit to make sure that nothing like that happens again."

"Ah…" He didn't sound convinced, but he let it go. "Thanks Leo." If there really was something to worry about he was sure that the Bartlets would let them all know. After all, it was their lives.

* * *

The door to the Oval Office slammed open and in stormed a very angry Abigail Bartlet. "Josiah Edward Bartlet! You think just because you're the President of the Goddamn United States you can send Charlie to come and fetch me like a child! Next time try using the phone Jethro! I do know how to answer it, what do you want?"

He was staring at her standing in front of his desk, and he leaned back in his chair. "I just wanted to tell you that my staff has started to notice the little changes in your behavior."

"In my behavior?" Her tone indicated she was anything but pleased with this conversation. "What about my behavior?"

"Only that some things have changed. I'm not saying you are doing anything wrong. In fact, I'm glad that you are taking a step back and doing what Millie said. I just wanted you to know that they are starting to notice."

She took a deep breath to try and get a handle on her mood. "I'm sorry I'm yelling. I've been a mood all day." She pointed a finger at him, the other hand laying over her stomach, "And I've been blaming you."

"Blaming me?" He stood and moved around the desk to stand in front of her. "I thought it was the strawberries?"

"Jackass." She pressed her lips to his as he got close enough to take her in his arms. "This is all your fault."

He smiled against her lips, "I'm sure it is…"


	9. Chapter 9-Don't You Dare Wake Her

**Hey Lovelies! This is a shorter one that I thought of after my outline was done, so I stuck it in here in the middle, but I really kind of like it. It's fun. Enjoy and let me know what you think!**

Chapter 9 – Don't You Dare Wake Her

Abbey came wandering into the Oval Office late the next Thursday afternoon. She was now almost twelve weeks pregnant, and it was already starting to drain her again. She was exhausted, and she had given up on all the extraneous paperwork that she was supposed to be working on.

"Hey Charlie." She smiled at him. "What has he got the rest of the afternoon?"

"Just a meeting with the Senior Staff after awhile. You're more than welcome to go in, I'm sure he wouldn't mind the company." He lowered his voice and looked around before speaking again. "How are you feeling ma'am?"

"I'm fine Charlie. I'm exhausted, but other than that I'm fine." She patted his shoulder on her way past him and headed for the office door.

She pushed it open a little and stuck her head around the edge. "Hey stranger, could you do with some company in here?"

He looked up from the memo that he was reading and smiled. "Sure. Don't you have work you need to be doing?" He hadn't missed the fact that she was empty handed.

"Oh yeah. I'm just putting it off until after dinner." She sat on the arm of one of the sofas and watched him as he went back to work. "I'm going to relax here if you don't mind?"

"Go for it Sweet Knees. We can go down to dinner together when I'm done." He smiled when she moved to lay flat on the couch, her left arm thrown over her eyes and her right resting across her barely there bump.

Twenty minutes later he looked up and she still hadn't moved. He smiled at seeing her asleep, this had happened the first three times too. She would fall asleep in the middle of the day, and then still sleep all night.

"Wait, guys, wait!" He heard Charlie's muffled voice through the door and he stood up from his desk as it swung open. The look on his face silenced his staff at once. Charlie glanced at the couch where Abbey was still asleep. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "I'm sorry Sir. They wouldn't listen when I told them not to come in. I figured she had fallen asleep, she was exhausted when she got here."

"It's alright Charlie." Jed was also whispering. The last thing he needed was to wake Abbey now. "If you guys can do this quick and in a whisper we can do this here, if not we can do this later, because I'm not leaving her alone, and if one of you wakes her so help you God."

"We can keep it down Sir." Leo interrupted him. "We won't be long."

"Okay," his gaze shifted to his sleeping wife as she shifted on the sofa, "what have you got for me?"

The staff covered their days and their plans for the next. They had almost made it through the entire meeting when Toby mentioned having to reschedule where the First Family, and therefore the staff, would be spending Thanksgiving.

"What?" Josh had forgotten to reign in his voice and there was a sharp intake of breath and a groan as the First Lady woke up behind them. He turned and looked sheepishly at the President. "I am so sorry Sir. I didn't mean to,"

The President held up his hand and moved around the room to crouch down in front of his wife. "Hey there Sleepy Head, do you feel better?"

She opened her eyes slowly and focused on her husband. "No. I'm still exhausted. How long have I been asleep?"

"Only about half an hour. Here," he reached out a hand and helped her sit up. That's when she noticed the rest of the people in the room.

"What is going on Jed?"

"We were having a meeting. Josh was the one that shouted and woke you. Don't worry I already threatened the wrath of God."

She smiled at him, even though her cheeks were turning pink. "I don't think the wrath of God is necessary dear. I think the wrath of Abigail Bartlet will do."

Josh chuckled, but she turned her infamous glare on him. "You can laugh all you want Joshua Lyman, but I am exhausted and you woke me up from the one nap I've managed to get in all week. Just ask Jed about the last time he woke me from a nap if you don't believe me."

She stood from the couch and walked slowly across the office towards the Deputy Chief of Staff. "Just you wait Josh, one day you will get your payback for forgetting to use your inside voice."

"Yes, yes ma'am." He seemed genuinely scared of the First Lady in that moment.

Abbey chuckled to herself and turned over her shoulder to Jed. "I'm going to go up to the Residence and call Ellie before dinner. I'll meet you when you're done here."

He nodded and she disappeared out the door. Jed took in Josh's still scared face. "I warned you Josh. You shouldn't have woken her, she's going to be unbearable now."

C.J. cocked her head to one side. "She didn't seem that bad Sir?"

"Oh believe me, it's not me that she's going to be unbearable for. I've made the mistake of waking her one too many times. This time it's Josh that's going to have to watch out." He laughed. "Just you wait, Abbey is known for getting her revenge."

"Wonderful…"

* * *

Jed made his way back upstairs later on and he wasn't surprised to find her still on the phone with Ellie. "Have you eaten?"

She shook her head, "I have to go baby, your dad and I are going to have dinner." She paused, "I will, we love you too. Bye sweetheart." She hung up with a smile. "She said to tell you she loves you."

"Oh, well good. I'm sure you gave her our love back?"

"All three of us." She took his hand and pulled him towards the table that had been set up for them. "Come on we are starving."

"We?"

"Yeah." She smiled up at him, "There are two people on this side of the table, and until this baby can feed itself I'm saying we."

"Okay." He shook his head as he chuckled. "I'm sorry about Josh. I thought we were going to make it through the meeting without waking you."

"That's alright, it was fun to scare him." She grabbed a roll out of the basket and started to butter it as he loaded her plate with food. She put the roll on his plate and started to make one for herself. "Did you tell him what happened last time you woke me like that?"

"You mean back when you were pregnant with Zoey and you threw me in the pond? No I didn't tell him about that. It's better to let him wonder."

She waved her butter knife at him. "You are a Jackass you know that?"

"Ah, but Abigail, I am your Jackass." He grinned at her across the table and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, I guess you are. Don't forget to eat your asparagus Jed."

He groaned as she dropped some of the green vegetables on his plate. "I'm not the one that woke you up, why do I have to eat my vegetables?"

"You always have to eat your vegetables." She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Fine."

"Jed," the tone of her voice changed and he looked up instantly. She was looking up at him through her eyelashes, "Eat your vegetables and then you can take me to bed."

He shoved a piece of the asparagus in his mouth and then moved around the table and swept her up bridal style, grinning at her. "I serve at the pleasure of the First Lady."

"Damn right you do."


	10. Chapter 10-Tell Tale Bump

**Hello Lovelies! So this one does nothing really for the plot, except help Abbey and Charlie bond a little, but it's cute and it's sappy and that's pretty much how this whole story goes, so Enjoy!**

Chapter 10 – Tell Tale Bump

The President of France was coming to the White House, and Abbey was in the bathroom dressing for their first State Dinner in months. The dress she had tried on and selected last week was lying across the tub and she was carefully applying her make up.

When she stood up in the mirror and turned to the side she couldn't help but smile. At twelve weeks she was most certainly starting to show. Anyone that knew what they were looking for would be able to tell that First Lady Dr. Abigail Bartlet was indeed pregnant.

She ran a hand lovingly over her little bump. It may have been her fourth pregnancy, but there was something about the feeling that hadn't dwindled over time. In fact, this time it was even more special. She glanced over her shoulder at the gown that had fit rather loosely a week ago. She had a feeling tonight it might cling rather nicely.

"Jed!" She called out for him, knowing that he was waiting for her in their bedroom. "Jed come in here!"

There was a scuffling sound and her husband came rushing in around the corner. "What is it? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

She turned to face him and laughed. "I'm fine, I just think I'm going to need a little help getting into my dress."

"Oh…" He looked relieved. "I thought that there was something wrong."

"Jed." She reached out and grabbed his hand, bringing it to rest on her growing bump. "We are fine. Relax." She smiled against his lips as she brought hers up to meet his. "We are both perfect."

"Good." He kissed her back and then stepped away to lift her gown. "My God Abigail this thing weighs a ton! How do you wear this?"

"It's not easy." She took the dress from him and undid the zipper, letting the material fall open loosely so that she could step into it. "Hold this for me?"

He took the sides of the gown from her and held it open as she stepped into it. He grinned as he lifted the panels up to rest along the sides of her breasts. "You know Gumdrop it's a lot more fun when I get to help you take these things off at the end of the night."

"Oh I quite agree boyfriend." She chuckled as he moved around behind her and took ahold of the zipper. She pulled her hair over her shoulder so that he could zip the gown up the back. When the zipper stalled just past her tailbone she smiled. "I knew it was going to be tighter this time."

"Oh? Did it go up easier when you tried it on earlier?" He kissed the back of her bare shoulder as he finished zipping the crimson gown.

"It did. I tried it on last week. My bump has started to show quite a bit more since then." She turned to the side so that she could view her profile in the mirror. "If anyone knows what they are looking for they are going to be able to tell." There was a swell to her abdomen that couldn't be missed from the side.

"No one is going to think anything of it. You look beautiful, and there are going to be plenty of people to look at. No one is going to give the bump a second thought." She turned flush to the mirror and he stepped up behind her. Putting his hands on either side of the bump. "Even when I frame it from the front the gown hides it quite well." He kissed her jaw softly just below her ear. "You're stunning, that's all that matters."

"Just as long as you don't say that I'm glowing. I don't think that I could handle a comment like that." Suddenly a nervous expression crossed her face. "This dinner is for the French."

"Yes." His eyebrows drew together in the mirror. "Why, what's wrong with that?"

"What are we having to eat?" Her eyes were growing wider by the second.

"Oh no." He looked down at her and she spun in his arms. "Halibut. The French President's favorite is the halibut. You can't have halibut."

"Not only that Jethro! The thought of fish makes my stomach turn, let alone the smell! How am I going to make it through a dinner where I can't eat the main course, and it makes me want to throw up?" There was some panic in her voice, but Jed suddenly had an idea.

"Charlie!"

She shook her head and looked up at him. "Abigail. I'm Abigail, Jed. You're wife. Mother of your three daughters, carrying your unborn child, Abigail."

"No, no, I know that, but what if Charlie comes in to pull you away for something and it happens to take the entire main course. I'm sure he can scrounge up something for you to eat that won't make you gag, and you won't have to smell the fish at all."

"Josiah Bartlet," she looked at him with a glint of pride in her eyes, "that just might work."

He kissed her gently, before bending down and kissing her bump. "Of course it will work. Now finish getting ready, we have an entrance to make."

"Alright, give me two more minutes."

"Take all the time you need." He winked at her over his shoulder as he left the bathroom.

"Passive aggression is not going to get me out the door any faster!" She called towards his retreating back.

"It hasn't yet!" He threw back as he picked up the paper that he had thrown aside in his rush to reach the bathroom earlier.

Five minutes after her two minutes were up Abbey made her way out of the bathroom and over to where he was sititng. "I think I'm ready now."

"Oh good. Another couple of minutes and we would have been early." He smirked at her and she batted lightly at his chest as he stood up and escorted her to the door.

"You, Mr. President, are a Jackass." She grinned at him as they made their way down the hall and over to the staircase.

His hand slid a little lower than necessary as he supported her going down the stairs. "Watch it boyfriend," she chastised him in a whisper as they got to the bottom step and were met with the French President and his wife, "don't start something you can't finish." She shot him a sly grin before turning her traditional First Lady smile on for the cameras.

Jed's escape plan for dinner worked and Abbey was safely out of range of the fish before anything embarrassing happened. Charlie led her to the Oval Office, where he had decided there was a slim chance of anyone finding out that she was really hiding from the fish. "Here you go ma'am." He handed her a glass of milk and a plate as they passed his desk.

She chuckled when she looked down at her plate. On it she found a peanut butter and jelly and some dill pickle slices, along with a small pile of strawberries. "Thank you Charlie." She looked up at him with genuine appreciation in her eyes.

"Well those are all of the things that I have heard you ask for, and not receive in the last week. I made sure we had the strawberries just in case you asked again."

Abbey ducked her head as she took a bite of her sandwich. After she had cleared her mouth with the milk she smiled, "I do need to apologize for that Charlie, it was not your fault that we were out of strawberries."

"That's okay Dr. Bartlet. I told Zoey about it and she said that her sisters have all kinds of stories about you craving random things when you were pregnant with her."

He chuckled at the stories that they had told him, but he glanced nervously over at Abbey. All at once remembering that not only was this his girlfriend's mother, she was the First Lady of the United States.

"It's okay Charlie. If I can yell at you like a son, you can tease me like a mother. It's only fair." She lifted her plate towards him. "Thank you again for all of this, I didn't expect you to actually provide dinner for me when we asked you to sneak me out."

"It was no problem. You have to eat something besides the dry salad and the oversweet cobbler."

"The cobbler is oversweet?" Her eyes shot up, she looked horrified. Like it was somehow her fault if the cobbler didn't taste right.

"Ma'am, I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure it will be fine." He stood and extended his hand to help her to her feet. "Just take small bites."

"Thank you Charlie." She patted his cheek on her way past him, and just before she made it to the door she turned back over her shoulder. "Can you do me one more favor?"

"Sure Dr. Bartlet."

She gave him a warm look before smiling softly. "Can you call me Abbey when it's just us, or the family?"

"I can try." He smiled, "But I won't make any promises, Ma'am."

She shook her head as she left him, slipping back into the role of the First Lady and rejoining her husband for the rest of their State Dinner.


	11. Chapter 11-Storyteller

**In which we meet Abigail, the drama queen. This one was super fun to write, I hope you all enjoy it!**

Chapter 11 – Storyteller

It was the next morning after breakfast and the first of everyone's morning meetings, right after the first press briefing of the day that C.J. tracked down the First Lady. Abbey was in her office in the East Wing, on the phone with someone at Harvard Med about something regarding lung regeneration, when Abbey's secretary showed her in.

The First Lady help up one finger and smiled, obviously trying to finish up her phone conversation. When she had finally managed to get off the line she turned to her husband's press secretary. "What can I do for you this morning C.J.?"

"The press brought up the question of your health again this morning Ma'am. It seems your disappearance from the Dinner last night didn't go unnoticed."

"Ah." Her eyebrows raised, she had known that there was no way they were going to get off scot-free on this one. That would have been too simple. "Well, C.J. all I can say is that I am just as fine as I was two weeks ago when they asked. If they ask why I ditched out on the entire main course try telling them that I don't like halibut."

C.J. laughed, "I don't think that they are going to let it go with 'The First Lady doesn't like halibut and was trying not to appear rude so she made up an emergency to get out of Dinner.'"

"Oh why not? I think it would make a great headline. Something along the lines of 'All Democrats Now Waging War on Halibut', I think it has a nice ring to it." Abbey chuckled, but she could tell that C.J. really wanted a serious answer. "All right Claudia Jean I'll tell you what. I will tell you the whole story, everything that has happened in the last two weeks tonight at dinner."

"Ma'am?"

"Dinner, tonight, in the Residence. You, all the rest of Jed's Senior Staff that have been sniffing around my health status for the last two weeks, me and the President. We will all have dinner tonight and I will tell you all what is going on." She gave the press secretary a pointed look that left no room for discussion.

All C.J. could do was nod. "What time ma'am?"

"How's seven sound?" Abbey went back to working on the paperwork on her desk. Effectively dismissing C.J.

"Perfect." She nodded her head once in respect before leaving the room and going to find the rest of the Senior Staff.

By the time she made it back across to the West Wing the President had called them all into the Oval Office. "C.J. you're late."

"I'm sorry sir. I was speaking with your wife in the East Wing. I didn't get the memo about the meeting until about ten seconds ago."

"Ah. And what were you speaking to my wife about C.J.? I believe you are my press secretary Abigail has her own." He was staring her down, but his stare was nothing compared to his wife's.

"Dinner sir. Well I went to tell her what the press room was talking about this morning, since it had to do with her disappearing act from last night, but we ended up talking about dinner."

"Dinner?" He leaned back against his desk studying her. "What about dinner?"

"Dr. Bartlet has invited your entire Senior Staff to dinner in the Residence tonight, she said that she wanted to finally fill us in on what's been going on around here these last two weeks."

"Ah." He smiled. "I figured she would end up pulling something like this eventually. Alright C.J. what time did she say dinner was?"

"Seven sir."

"Good." He moved around the room to sit in one of the armchairs as they began their actual meeting. "And did she happen to say what she was planning on serving you all to eat?"

"No sir." C.J. smiled.

"Well, I hope she doesn't plan on cooking herself." Leo and Josh chuckled at the President's reminder of the last time Abbey had tried to cook for them on short notice.

* * *

By six fifteen everyone was starting to get anxious, as much as the President and the First Lady had claimed that there was nothing wrong they wouldn't be hosting a dinner to tell them all once again that she was fine.

"Jed?" Abbey was standing in their closet in her slip trying to decide how to dress for dinner.

"Yes dear?" He came in behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"What do I wear? Some of these dresses will make it obvious and some of them hide it almost completely. Which do we want to go with?"

Before he could answer her there was the sound of the door opening and they heard Zoey's voice call out. "Mom?"

"Closet."

Zoey came round the corner and saw her parents standing in their closet looking up at all of her mother's clothes. "What are you two doing in here?"

"Trying to decide what I should wear. I'm guessing Charlie called you?"

The girl laughed, "Yeah, I thought I'd come and see the look on C.J.'s face when she finds out you managed to hide the fact that you're pregnant for twelve weeks."

Jed laughed as he left the women alone in the closet. Zoey was right C.J.'s face was going to be priceless.

"This one." Zoey grabbed a skirt suit off of the rack and handed it to her mom. "That way you can wear the jacket before you make the announcement and it will hide the bump and then afterwards you can take it off and everyone will be able to see."

Abbey kissed her daughter's cheek as she took the suit and shoved her daughter out of the closet in front of her. "That's not a bad idea Zoeybird."

"I try." She dodged her mom's playfully slap as she headed off to find Charlie before dinner.

* * *

It was seven o'clock sharp when Abbey and Jed made their way into the Residence dining room. Everyone else was already there; Abbey had called over earlier and invited both Donna and Margaret along as well. When they walked in they were greeted as formally as ever and Abbey laughed.

"When I invite all of you here for dinner, it was to have dinner as friends, not as colleagues and the First Couple. Do you think you can manage that?"

There were some mumbled answers and Charlie broke the barrier down by kissing Abbey's cheek when she reached him and Zoey. "There not, so formal now ma'am."

"Ah, you were doing so good, right up until you called me ma'am."

He shrugged, "Force of habit."

"Come on." Zoey grabbed his arm and pulled him away from her mom, "I'm starving, let's eat."

As they all ate the sense of formality slipped away, leaving friendships behind in its place. As the last of the waiters carrying the empty dessert plates disappeared through the doors Abbey stood up.

Instantly the room went quiet and all eyes hit the First Lady. "So as you all remember two weeks ago I stood up in front of a group of people, many colleagues and some friends, and I gave a speech." Her eyes twinkled as she looked down at Jed who had taken her hand from his seat beside her.

"As some of you are well aware," she looked briefly at Josh before continuing, "I get terrible stage fright, and I am often nauseous before giving a big speech." Josh smiled at the memory of her almost puking on him during the campaign. "Normally the feeling disappears after the third or fourth line, but that night it stuck around the whole time. As I was exiting the stage I caught Millie's eye and she met me at the bottom of the stairs."

"It's a good thing she did too because before I could even open my mouth to tell her what was wrong I passed out into her arms. She got me to the floor and then to an ambulance and I was admitted to GWU hospital that night." She looked around the room at all of the somber faces that were looking back at her. This was too much fun.

"There I was unconscious for close to three hours before they finally got me awake, alert and responsive. We said that it was dehydration, and exhaustion that were the causes of the black out. Of the entire admittance, but that's not entirely truthful." There was an intake of breath around the table, and though they weren't quite smiling she could see the amusement in both Charlie and Zoey's eyes.

"Millie ran some blood tests and given the results Jed called the girls all here to the White House. It was the next evening that Millie brought around the file with all of the labs that she had run even after I left the hospital. They answered the remaining questions we had about my condition."

She sighed and tried to keep the smile off of her face as she continued. "You see Millie and I had come to the same diagnosis the night before, but everything that we were worried about was answered the following night. We were right in thinking that this was going to impact my life, all of our lives in a big way."

Charlie was looking around the room as Abbey was telling her story; she was making it sound like she was about to die, when he knew for a fact that she was over the moon elated. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and he laughed. Abbey tried not to smile at him and Zoey smacked him under the table but he couldn't help it. Jed's poker face ended up being the best.

"Is something about this situation funny to you Charlie?" He was staring the boy down, as if daring him to say anything. But Charlie wasn't scared of Jed.

"No sir." He tried to regain his composure, but one look at the First Lady's smirk did him in. "It's just that I believe Dr. Bartlet could win an Oscar for her performance." He turned to look at her, "It's not very nice to lie to the staff ma'am."

A collective intake of breath around the table was the only accompaniment to Charlie's critique of the First Lady.


	12. Chapter 12-Surprises

**Hey Lovelies! So this is the final chapter before the epilogue! I hope that you have loved this as much as I have and I can't wait for you to read the epilogue! Enjoy!**

Chapter 12 – Surprises

It didn't take but five seconds for the gasps of the staff to turn into shocked cries. They were all admonishing Charlie and shooting looks at Zoey, while trying to apologize to Abbey for something that none of them had done. After letting them scramble for a moment Jed moved around the table to stand by his wife and he laughed.

"Save the poor boy Abigail." She looked over at him when he whispered in her ear and she smiled.

"Nah let them have a minute, this is fun." Her smiled grew as Zoey and Charlie both shot her pleading looks. Trying to make her reconsider not interfering.

"Fine…" He rolled his eyes and cleared his throat loudly. "I'll do it myself."

"Stop picking on Charlie." His voice carried through the room and everyone turned to look at him. Relief reflected in Charlie's eyes and annoyance in Zoey's.

"Mom, that really wasn't very nice." Zoey sassed her mother in a tone that normally only Ellie got away with.

"Zoey, don't sass your mother." He raised an eyebrow at her and she sat back sullenly in her chair.

"Fine…" She rolled her eyes in the same manner that Jed had just done and the resemblance made Abbey chuckle. She met Jed's eyes and gave him a tiny nod, turning the conversation over to him entirely.

"Alright, Charlie, you know that you probably shouldn't have said that?" The boy nodded, but couldn't quite contain his grin. "But you were right," he turned to face his wife, "that really was an excellent performance. You do deserve some kind of prize."

Her eyes sparkled as she flirted back with him, "I'm sure you can think of something appropriate."

"I'm sure I can. Something to go along with whatever you deserve for trying to convince them that you are dying…" He wrapped his arm around her waist and looked down at her.

"I wasn't trying to convince them I was dying I was telling them what has happened!" She elbowed him gently in the ribs. "Just because I was doing it in a somber tone…"

"Made it sound like you were dying Mom." Zoey grinned at her parents, who were obviously dragging this entire process out as long as humanly possible. "Why don't you two just tell them all the truth already?"

"Zoey Bartlet you are taking all of the fun out of this for me." Abbey smirked at her daughter as she leaned into Jed's side. "Do you want to tell them?"

"Yes!" Zoey shot up out of her seat, but Charlie grabbed her when Jed shook his head.

"No way young lady. As your mother has pointed out so many times in the last two weeks this is my fault. If anybody besides her gets to do the telling then it's going to be me!"

Finally Josh spoke up, "Um guys, I don't really care who tells us, but will somebody tell us what's going on? Is Dr. Bartlet dying or not?"

The First Family and Charlie laughed. "She's definitely not dying Josh." Charlie shook his head, what were they going to think when they found out this was all about a baby? "I think one of you better tell them Sir."

"Abbey?" He looked down at her and she shook her head. "No." She smiled, "I told the girls, you tell them."

"I told Charlie." He pointed out. "Together?"

She nodded and he pulled her in tighter to his side, looping his arm so that his hand rested on her stomach instead of her hip. "We're pregnant."

Eyes went wide, a few mouths dropped and Charlie and Zoey started laughing. Watching the staff react was quite entertaining, it seemed as if none of them really knew what to say. Finally Leo was the first to recover.

"You two are having another baby? When did you decide this?"

Jed laughed, "We didn't."

"It was definitely a surprise." She turned to Josh and Sam who were whispering together on the other side of the table. "And before you ask, yes I am old."

There was laughter all around the table and finally C.J. stood up and moved in front of Abbey. "Can I hug you ma'am?"

"Of course!" Abbey opened her arms and soon she had hugged not only C.J. but Donna and Margaret as well. Zoey joined them and the women all stepped out of the way so that the rest of Jed's staff could get to the President.

"Congratulations Sir." Toby held out his hand and smiled at the President. "A baby in the White House is no small thing."

"It is for a little while Toby." Josh's attempt at a joke fell a little flat, but they all let it slide. "The kid is the reason that the First Lady was sick then?" He looked at the President expectantly.

"Yes Josh. She's got it under control now. That's also the reason that you had better watch out. You are the one that woke the sleeping, hormonal, pregnant woman the other day." The group laughed as Josh groaned.

"No fair! It was an accident and I didn't know she was pregnant." He turned to look over his shoulder at the First Lady. "She doesn't even look pregnant!"

Abbey heard his comment and turned to look at him. "Oh yes I do Josh. This is just the third time I've done this and I've gotten rather good at hiding it." She took her jacket off and turned to the side, her bump clearly visible. "Believe me now?"

His ears turned pink, "I believed you before ma'am. It was just a surprise."

"I know." She smiled and patted his cheek in a motherly way. "Jed's right though, you are looking at some pay back. You did wake me up."

"Dr. B…"

"Ask Jed what happened to him last time he woke me up while I was pregnant." She raised her eyebrows and smirked at her husband, who just laughed.

"She pushed me in the pond." Josh's eyes went wide, but Jed went on. "In a business suit. I was on my way to teach I believe and I woke her up slamming the doors in the house. She followed me outside and yelled at me until I backed up into the pond. I cancelled my lecture that day."

"Oh no…"

Donna laughed as she came up beside Josh. "Don't worry. I'm sure she will be much more subtle this time."

"Oh yeah." C.J. laughed, "First Lady Dr. Abigail Bartlet, Queen of Subtlety and not prone to large displays."

Everyone chuckled, as Josh seemed to grow more and more worried. He turned to Abbey and started to say something but she cut him off. "Don't try apologizing now Joshua Lyman. I have twenty-eight weeks to plan something, carry it out, and still blame it on being pregnant." She smirked, "I'd be very worried."

"Twenty-eight weeks?" C.J. was doing the math, "The baby is due in April then?"

"Yes." Her hand was resting casually on her bump, she no longer had to try and hide it. The secret was out, she was sure that it would hit the newsstands by morning.

"That explains it!" They turned to look at Donna. "No appointments after the first of April!"

"Ah. Yes, I haven't been scheduling anything, the baby is due on the eleventh of April, but being the fourth one, it may come early."

Leo looked over at the President, who was watching his wife interact with the staff. "Do you know Sir?"

He looked across at his Chief of Staff. "Know?"

"If you got your boy this time around, or if you're running the risk of having Abigail and a mini-Abigail running around the White House come two years from now?"

They both chuckled at the thought of a two-year-old miniature version of Abigail running through the halls bossing around the staff. Jed shook his head. "Yeah we know. We've already got a name picked out and everything."

"Oh yeah? When are you going to inform Abbey you named her child?"

Jed smiled over at the man that obviously knew him so well. "Tomorrow."


	13. Epilogue-A Bartlet Baby

**So here we go! The last little piece! I made you wait until the very end, but here we go. The Bartlet Baby finally makes it's appearance! Thank you all for reading and loving this awesome story with me, it was a pleasure to write and an even bigger one to read your comments. Thank you all so much! Enjoy this last bit!**

Epilogue – A Bartlet Baby

The press had a field day at first. The entire country was in an uproar about the First Baby. No matter what Jed had promised her he couldn't get them to stop calling it that, and over time it started to grow on her.

The winter months came and went. Thanksgiving was wonderful, the White House full of many guests and loads of delicious food. They went back up to Manchester for Christmas. They kept things simple and easy, knowing that there would no simple and easy Christmas's for years to come.

It was in February that Millie put Abbey on bed rest. She had fainted again and this time she fell. They were all worried for a while when it took her a few hours to open her eyes, but in the end they were okay, both of them.

Jed had indeed picked out a name. Way back in the fall, and when he had told her what it was she simply smiled at him. She had been thinking the same thing. She made it through the bed rest by working, often times covering his entire side of the bed with paperwork that he would have to move before he could go to bed.

By March the not moving around was killing her. She had thought that slowing down last fall had been bad. Not only was she not practicing medicine, but Millie started limiting the number of projects she could take on from her bed. On more than one occasion she had tried to bribe her security detail to take Millie out.

She was miserable, and uncomfortable, and yet elated. With Donna and C.J. for help she covertly redid one of the rooms across the hall from theirs into a nursery, and she sent Charlie up to Manchester to dig the girls' old bassinette out of the attic. The crib she had given to Elizabeth when she was first expecting, and so she ordered a new one.

Jed let her run her own little covert missions around the nursery because he knew that she needed something to do, but he had made some changes himself. Not only was there a new crib in the nursery, there was a beautiful one that he had picked out himself in her office in the East Wing, a surprise for when she was finally up and moving around again.

It was 6:23 in the morning, on the seventh of April that Abbey's water broke. She had put off telling Jed until it was absolutely necessary. She had woken up a few times since midnight to some mild contractions, but she knew what she could handle. She was a doctor after all, and she had done this three times before.

What she wasn't ready for was how quickly her labor progressed after her water broke. By the time they got her to the hospital she was ready to push, and less than forty-five minutes later the country had a new First Baby. Damp curls framed her face as Millie handed Abbey her new baby.

Jed smiled down at the two of them and pressed a kiss to his wife's forehead. "You did good Sweet Knees. Look how perfect…" He ran a finger over the baby's tiny little fingers and Abbey ran one up and down the newborn's cheek.

"I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world." She kissed the tiny baby's head before the nurse swept in to clean them both up.

When Millie came back in the room a little while later Liz, Ellie and Zoey were right on her heels. "Do we have a name yet guys?"

"We've had a name since the night we told the staff." Jed smiled down at his wife and nodded.

Abbey smiled as she looked up from her baby to her daughters, "Girls we'd like you to meet your baby brother, Eddie."

"He's beautiful Mom." Liz took her brother from her mom and kissed his head before she passed him to Ellie.

"Eddie?" Zoey smiled and lifted an eyebrow, "Like Edward?" She took the baby from Ellie and grinned down at him before looking back up at her mom.

"Yes." Abbey smiled and as Zoey gave Eddie back to Jed. "Josiah Edward Bartlet II. The poor thing has some pretty big shoes to fill."

"He's a Bartlet baby." They all turned to look at Ellie, who was smiling at her parents, "We've all got pretty big shoes to fill."


End file.
